Why We Care

Why We Care

Middle Aged Homeowners Hit Hard by Foreclosure Crisis

Apr 25, 2016

A report by the Urban Institute titled Comparing Credit Profiles of American Renters and Owners shows that middle-aged homeowners between the ages of 36 and 55 were hit hard by the housing foreclosure crisis, accounting for 59% of the nine million foreclosures between 2003 and 2015. The foreclosure rate was 10.2% for individual homeowners between the ages of 36 and 45 and 8.6% for those between the ages of 46 and 55.

The study compared the credit histories and scores of six different groups of renters and owners: those with mortgages in 2015, those who had a mortgage in the past 16 years but not in 2015, and those without a mortgage during the past 16 years.

Nineteen million individuals were renters who had a mortgage sometime in the past 16 years but not at the time of the study. This group had a median credit score lower than any other group except renters who never had a mortgage. Twenty-two percent (4.2 million) of these renters had experienced a foreclosure, which was a higher share of individuals than in any other tenure-mortgage status group. Two and a half million of these foreclosures were experienced by individuals between the ages of 36 and 55. More than six million renters who had had a mortgage in the past 16 years had a negative mark on their credit report, such as a bankruptcy, judgements, or tax liens. This also was the highest share among any tenure-mortgage status group. Almost four million of the six million individuals with negative marks in their credit report were between the ages of 36 and 55. They were concentrated in the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis (Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada).

The report used 2015 consumer credit data from a major credit bureau, 2015 public property records, and the 2014 American Community Survey’s (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS).